Robert Manning

William H. and Johanna A. Harris Computational Science Professorship; Associate Professor of Mathematics

B.S., Yale University

Ph.D., Cornell University

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland College Park and EPFL

Equilibrium problems for elastic rods, including incorporating the effect of nontrivial intrinsic shape, and considering a broad range of boundary conditions, especially those relevant to DNA cyclization or looping
Stability theories in the calculus of variations, generalizing the classic "conjugate point" results to a broader class of problems, including those where the Euler-Lagrange and Jacobi equations are integrodifferential equations (e.g., elastic rods with self-contact)
Computation of the end-to-end probability density function for an elastic rod and its application to DNA cyclization and looping experiments (collaboration with John Maddocks' group at EPFL); both "exact" (Monte Carlo) and approximate theories, and within rigid-base, rigid-basepair, and continuum models of DNA
Collaborative projects with biological scientists (has included AFM analysis, aggregation modeling, and epidemiology of viral hemorrhagic fever)
(Ph.D. topic) Semiclassical approximations in quantum mechanics